Top 12 Favorite Animal/Insect Photos Of 2012

A quick look back at some of my favorite animal, bird, and insect photos that I have taken in the past year;

A Lorikeet:

Hummingbirds (They move very quickly, and are hard to photograph!)

An Iguana:

A Beautiful Bee:

Our little furball, Molly:

 A hungry Bengal Tiger:

A sleeping Cheetah:

 

A weathered and wrinkly Elephant:

 A Razor-Back Musk Turtle:

 A Pink Flamingo:

A Rhineocerous Hornbill:

 And a creepy looking Alligator:

Thanks for joining me for another fun look back-tomorrow I will share some favorite family snapshots from 2012!

Top 12 Nature Photos from 2012

Today, I thought I would take a few minutes to share my favorite nature photos that I have taken in the past year:

I took this photo at the Nashville Zoo in April (and fell in love with the 24-70 2.8 lens):

 

A lot of my favorites were taken while we were at John and Trina's cabin in September.

 

They had lots of gorgeous flowers in their yard:

 

And we took some wonderful hikes!

Where we saw this:

And this (Greeter Falls):

Had some beautiful golden evenings with a glass of wine:

 And the kids loved the firepit and the Smores!

We took took a Labor Day hike in the rain, which was so worth it, because we saw this:

 and this:

 In October, we had some amazing and somewhat terrifying lightening storms:

 And we actually had some beautiful fall colors this year!

 Of course, as a Tennessee girl, this is something I love to see every October:

 And this was taken a few days ago  (first White Christmas in ages!):

Thanks for visiting with me-I would love to have you follow me as I share more of my 2012 favorites!

Top 12 Photos I Have Taken of my Kids this Year

When I saw this challenge, I had to play along!

Some are more posed, some are snapshots, but I love them all...

My oldest, Caitlin...she looks so pretty here, but way older than 12, which she was at the time!

My youngest, Cecilia. What's not to love about a little girl and glitter?

This was just a snapshot, taken on a walk through downtown Nashville, but for some reason, it totally takes my breath away. I don't know if it was Natalie's eyes, the wind blowing her hair, or what, but it really made me wish I could buy that rented 24-70 2.8 lens I used!

This photo of my son, Evan, taken at my brother's wedding; it really seems to capture his smart, sweet, serious personality...

Back To School with a bunch of goofballs...Their cheesy, mom-is-making-me-do-this grins crack.me.up.every.time. Especially Caitlin and Evan...

This was such a proud mama moment for me: my son, the quarterback of his flag football team, finished his undefeated season off by winning their "Superbowl":

 

For Halloween, Caitlin wanted to be a Playboy bunny...um riiiight...you're only 13, little one! I have to say that there are not a lot of choices for little girls in womens' bodies, though! So she settled for a "Cute Formal Bunny", and mama made sure that there was plenty of clothing. I like the way it turned out:

 

 Evan made a very good "Scream":

 

 And I love how much the twins' costumes showcase their personalities! Natalie headed straight for fairies and princesses, and all things girly...Cecilia wanted something scary and didn't even look at the girls' costume selection-she went straight for the boys' stuff.

Natalie, the Goth Fairy:

 

Cecilia, who went as "Infectious" (and I absolutely love how "in character" she was!):

Love this one, because it's so rare to get my four together and smiling all at once:

And this one of my son and nephew, taken just a few days ago at our families' Christmas celebration just absolutely melts my heart:

 Thank you for visiting my blog, I'd love to have you follow me...my resolution for the next year is more photo sharing!